The stories behind Juergen Teller's best shots

‘The Royal Academy magazine had the idea to organise a lunch to talk about art
and food. Guests were the artists David Hockney and Allen Jones, the
Michelin-star chef Gordon Ramsay and me. We ate in the kitchen of Ramsay’s
restaurant at Claridge’s in London. I was looking forward to it. We were all
on time and I was getting on well with David, going outside and smoking
cigarettes together. Allen and I knew each other already. Ramsay arrived an
hour and 20 minutes late. I thought, being well brought up as I am, you just
can’t let these old people wait for so long, they need something to eat.
Even so, we were enjoying talking about photography and painting. Suddenly
Ramsay appeared, only to leave again. Finally lunch started and I have to
say we were impressed by the food, and every dish came with a different
wine. Ramsay then joined us again, sat himself down, cut off David
mid-sentence and launched into a monologue about what he thought art was.
The three of us couldn’t believe it. Near the end of the meal, Ramsay stood
up and started screaming at me – calling me a lazy -------- and telling me
to finally take a photograph or two instead of just eating his food. We were
shocked. I got up and said: “Listen – sit down and shut up!” I pressed the
shutter once and that was it.’

‘Juergen Teller: Woo’ is at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London,
January 23 – March 17; ica.org.uk